What began as a tense legal proceeding quickly unraveled into one of the most emotionally charged scenes the Frisco community has witnessed since the tragedy first unfolded.
On Friday, the courtroom fell silent — and then broke — as prosecutors played bodycam footage of paramedics desperately trying to save 17-year-old Austin Metcalf’s life. The gut-wrenching video showed Austin lying unresponsive on the ground at a Texas high school track meet, paramedics performing CPR as precious seconds slipped away. For those in the room, there was no preparing for what they saw.
Austin’s parents could barely hold themselves together. They broke down in tears, held by family members as the footage continued to play. No parent should ever have to sit in a courtroom and watch their child’s final moments on a screen.
‘The truth will come out’ | Karmelo Anthony’s mother speaks on Frisco track meet stabbing case
FRISCO, Texas — The mother of Karmelo Anthony, the teen charged in the fatal stabbing at a track meet in Frisco, said her family has been “under attack” with threats and “false accusations,” and called for the legal process to play out in her first comments since the stabbing.
Kala Hayes, Anthony’s mother, made her comments during an emotional — and delayed — press conference Thursday in which the father of the victim in the case had to be escorted out of the building.
Karmelo Anthony, a 17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, was charged with murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, also 17, on April 2 at the UIL District 11-5A championship track meet at Frisco ISD’s Kuykendall Stadium. Anthony was released from jail on Monday after posting bond.
The press conference with Anthony’s parents Thursday was delayed after Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff, arrived at the headquarters of Next Generation Action Network, the Dallas-based advocacy group hosting the press conference on the family’s behalf.
The press conference began after Jeff Metcalf was escorted out after being asked to by the owner of the Good Coworking coworking space where the organization is headquartered.
Three Words Across an Impossible Divide
But it wasn’t only the courtroom that became a flashpoint.
Days earlier, at a press conference that was already tense before it even began, Karmelo’s mother, Kala Hayes, delivered the moment that would stop the room cold.
Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff, had arrived at the event — hosted by the Dallas-based advocacy group Next Generation Action Network — and was eventually escorted out before proceedings could begin. After a nearly 50-minute delay, Hayes finally stepped forward.
She spoke about her family being “under attack” — threatened, harassed, lied about in the weeks since the stabbing. She defended her son’s right to due process. She called for the legal system to be allowed to run its course.
And then, through tears, she turned toward the Metcalf family’s pain.
“To the family who experienced the loss, my heart truly goes out to you.”
Three words — my heart goes — that landed differently depending on who was listening.
Some saw a grieving mother reaching across an impossible divide, acknowledging a loss she cannot undo. Others felt the moment came too soon, in the wrong room, while Austin’s family is still living inside a wound that hasn’t even begun to close.
Watch the full press conference here:
After about a 50-minute delay and lengthy opening remarks from Next Generation’s president, Hayes, Anthony’s mother, said the family has been “under attack” in the wake of the stabbing, with threats and harassment.
“Whatever you think what happened between Karmelo and the Metcalf boys, my three younger children, my husband and I didn’t do anything to deserve to be threatened, harassed and lied about,” Hayes said. “The lies and false accusations that have been said about us, especially over the past week, has been overwhelming. The lies and their amplification put my family in danger.”
She also said Karmelo “deserves the same rights under the law that everyone is afforded.”
Hayes didn’t discuss what happened at the track meet further, calling for the legal process to be allowed to play out.
“We believe in the Constitution, we believe in the laws of this state, but those laws must apply to all of us, not just some of us,” she said. “There’s an active investigation that everyone involved wants to be full and fair. We believe in the legal process and that is where the truth will come out.”
She also addressed Metcalf’s family through tears.
“To the family who experienced the loss, my heart truly goes out to you,” she said, through tears. “To those who have supported my family, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
She also said the family hasn’t received money from a fundraiser purported to be set up on the Anthony family’s behalf, and was only notified yesterday that they were able to begin the withdrawal process.
As of Thursday afternoon, the fund had raised $458,356.
Prosecutors had questioned at Anthony’s bond hearing Monday why the family couldn’t pay his $1 million bond with the fundraiser money. Anthony’s father explained that they hadn’t received the money yet. A judge ultimately decided to lower Anthony’s bond to $250,000.
